Bill could increase sentence for hit-and-run convictions

Daily Pilot

Dr. Catherine "Kit" Campion Ritz

Dr. Catherine "Kit" Campion Ritz (Daily Pilot)

Jill Cowan

Hit-and-run drivers convicted of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence could face up to five more years behind bars if a bill proposed by Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) makes it through the Legislature.

"I understand that accidents can and will occur," Mansoor said in a statement, "but I also believe in giving judges additional tools for sentencing those who run from the responsibility of remaining at the scene of the crime."

Currently, drivers convicted of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence — meaning that person acted in a way that showed egregious disregard for the safety of others — could see up to six years in prison, according to an Orange County district attorney's office spokeswoman.

Vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, on the other hand, is a misdemeanor that could result in a maximum sentence of a year in jail, Farrah Emami wrote in an email.

Then, on top of that, if a driver is found to have fled the scene, an extra five years could be added to his or her sentence.

But if passed, the bill would amend the state vehicle code to essentially erase the sentencing distinction between manslaughter with and without gross negligence in the case of a hit-and-run.

That would mean that drivers convicted of vehicular manslaughter — with or without gross negligence — could face a maximum of 11 years behind bars.

Those maximum sentences increase in cases where the driver was intoxicated or in other special circumstances.

Michael Jason Lopez, 39, of Anaheim, pleaded not guilty to one misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and one felony hit-and-run count in October. He's due back in court Friday.